Welcome to That Eurovision Site’s 2024 Advent Calendar! Each day at 10:00CET we’ll be highlighting one of our favourite holiday themed songs from across the Eurovision sphere! today is 1st December and our featured song today is “Сумнае свята (Sumnaye svyata)” by NAVIBAND, who represented Belarus at Eurovision 2017. Happy Holidays!
Behind the 1st door on the TES Advent Calendar is…
About “Сумнае свята (Sumnaye svyata)”
With a title that translates from Belarusian as ‘a sad holiday’ – Сумнае свята (Sumnaye svyata) is on the slower half of the Christmas song divide, and is from the view of those who don’t feel like they have very much at all to celebrate during the holiday period. This is a feeling the band know all too well. Since 2020, they’ve been living outside of their homeland of Belarus, instead being based in the Polish capital of Warsaw, following their support (and involvement) of the pro-democracy protests in Belarus in 2020, which saw their songs get banned from music contests by the Lukashenko regime.
Lyrically, the song is about those, such as those who like the band, are political exiles, who are struggling to find joy despite the time of year, but still find it in their hearts to hope that one day things can be better.
The song was first released on Christmas Day 2021, and, as with most NAVIBAND releases, was written by Artsiom Lukyanenka, the male half of the band’s lyrical duo.
What do we think?
I’m an absolute sucker for a highly personal track and this one is no different. This story is Navi’s own to tell, and I love that they’re telling it. It’s so easy at Christmas time to fall into a trap of perhaps inauthentic overly jovial songs, but they stayed true to their real experiences.
As for the composition itself, it’s a thing of beauty. I love the way they represent the dual emotions of sadness and hope within the instrumentation, and the vocalisations are more chilling than the wintertime weather. If you only know NAVIBAND from Story of My Life, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
NAVIBAND’s Eurovision Journey
At the fourth time of trying, NAVIBAND were finally selected to represent Belarus ahead of Eurovision 2017, when they won Belarus’ National Final with their song Historyja Majho Žyccia- becoming the first Eurovision artists to perform in Belarusian.
Their song freshly retitled to ‘Story of My Life’ ahead of Eurovision, though remaining in Belarusian, NAVIBAND were drawn into the second semi-final, where they would go on to qualify in 9th place, accumulating 110 points. They would go on to place 17th in the Grand Final in Kyiv, with 83 points to their name, Belarus’ fourth highest result at the contest.
What do you think of today’s song? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2025!
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News Source – That Eurovision Site
Giwrgos Oiko